Hospital bed side guard



' Aulg- 1 D. c. TRAVIS 2,478,028

HOSPITAL BED SIDE GUARD Filed April 12, 1945 3 SheetsSheet l R; i Q fur/mic? D. C. TRAVIS HOSPITAL BED SIDE GUARD 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 12, 1945 Car-Z05 flaw-5 Aug. 2, 1949. RAVI 2,478,028

HOSPITAL BED SIDEGUARD Filed April 12. 1945 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 flora C czrlos Pavia atenteti Aug. 2, 1949 HOSPITAL BED SIDE GUARD Don Carlos Travis, Kenosha, Wis, assignor to The Simmons Company, Kenosha, Wis, a corporation of Delaware Application April 12, 1945, Serial No. 587,882

This invention has for its main object the provision of a side guard structure for hospital beds, and more particularly the provision of a side guard structure, which may be readily attached and detached from an ordinary hospital bed and which is adjustable from an operative position extending upwardly from the bed at its side to a lowered or out-of-the-way position permitting free access to the bed.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be understood by reference to the following specification and accompanying drawings (3 sheets) wherein there is illustrated a hospital bed having a selected form of the side guard structure applied thereto.

In the drawings, Fig. l is a perspective illustrating a hospital bed to both sides of which side guards are applied according to the invention, one of the side guards being shown in its operative elevated position and the other in its lowcred or out-of-=the-way position. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of one corner of the structure, certain parts being broken away and illustrated in section to illustrate certain details of construction; Fig. 3 is an end elevation. Fig. 4 is a View corresponding to a portion of Fig. 2 but on an enlarged scale and partially in section; Fig. 5 is a section on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4, and Fig. 6 is a section on the line 6-6 of Fig. 2.

The hospital bed illustrated in the drawings embodies head and foot end frames I and 2 respectively. The end frames each have corner posts 3 which, when made of relatively light metal tubing, are preferably reinforced for the purpose of this invention, by means of a reinforcing strap secured to the inside surface of the wall portion of the post to which the side guard structure is to be attached. The reinforcing strap 4 may be secured in place by suitable screws as indicated at 5 or otherwise.

The hospital bed structure also includes a bed bottom '3 shown here in the form of an ordinary fixed bed bottom, but which would more often be in the form of an adjustable bed bottom embodying various sections such as head and foot section, which are adjustable to various angular positions. The adjustability of the bed bottom is not particularly related to the invention, whereior the simple fixed bed bottom is illustrated as a matter of convenience. The bed bottom 6 is of course detachably secured at its ends to the end frames I and 2 by any suitable means such as indicated at l in Fig. 2.

Side guards such as indicated at 8, which are more or less similar to the vertically moveable 7 Claims. (Cl. 5-100) side guards of a childs crib are associated with. each side of the hospital bed. The side guards side of which there is welded or otherwise secured a tubular member H). The tubular membe! IE! has reduced upper and lower end portions; H and i2 respectively which fit slidably on a. tubular guide rod 13 which is supported in fixed. position by means of a post H! which is in turn.

position on the ad-- jacent corner post 3 of the end frame of the bed; also of tubular metal.

less orna-- mental cap !5 for its upper end. Intermediate: radially outwardly: l 1, these ears being" detachably secured in fixed The supporting post 14 is construction provided with a more or its ends it is provided with extending ears or lugs 96 and welded or otherwise rigidly secured to the post structure 5 The ear I6 is provided with a down-- wardly opening notch l8 (see Fig. 3) which is; adapted to fit over and receive a supporting pin IS. The pin I9 is secured at its ends in a bracket member 2E! and a housing member 2!, and said bracket member 2!] is secured to the corner post 3 by means of the screws or bolts 5 (see Fig. 2). The upper ear l5 and the supporting pin l9 are located above the plane of the bed bottom and on the inside face of the end frame as is more clearly shown in Fig. 1; and the housing 2i serves. to more or less enclose the mechanical connection between the ear l6 and the corner post so as to avoid entanglement of bedding or other articles on the connecting parts. The housing 2i is somewhat elongated as shown so as to permit inwardly over the pin l9 preparatory to downward movement; of the ear into engagement with the pin 19. Thethe ear IE to be moved endwise lower ear 22 which i1 is provided with an open end notch projecting inwardly from the lower end portion of the bracket member 26. Nut 24 in the form, of a small end wheel threadedly engages the screw 23 and is adapted to be tightened against: the ear I! to clamp it in operative position against is adapted to engage another pin 23 which is in the form of a screw threaded stud the pin 23 when the post I4 is rocked about the pivot 19. By tightening the clamping nut 24, the post M will of course be effectively locked in place. Removal of the post 14 from the bed frame may of course be readily effected by 1005- ening the nut 24, pulling out the lower end of the post and then raising the post and pulling the upper ear Iii outwardly.

The post I4 is provided near its upper end with a laterally extending ear 25 which is welded or otherwise rigidly secured to the post. The ear has an opening 26 provided therein, said opening being of elongated rectangular shape so as to be adapted to laterally adjustablyreceive the squared end portion of a stud or post 21 which projects out of the upper end of the guide rod or tube It. The upper end of the. guide member i3 is anchored to the ear 25 by means of a screw 28 which screws into a threaded hole in the post part 21, a washer 29 being provided under the head of the screw to seat on the top surface or the part 2']. The squared upper end of the post 2'! is movable laterally in the opening 26 in the ear '25, and the length of said squared post part 21 is somewhat greater than the thickness of the ear 25 so that when the screw 28 is driven home, the upper end of the guide tube i3. will be left freely adjustable laterally in the ear 25.

Ihe lower end of the guide tube L3 is prefer-. ably provided with a reduced diameter end portion 33 which fits through a laterally elongated slot 3| in a bracket plate 3-2 secured to the lower end of the post id. As shown in Fig. 4, the bracket plate 32 may be secured to the post M by means of a screw 33 which screws into a suitably threaded socket in a filler block 3.4 welded or otherwise anchored in place in the lower end of the hollow post Id. The length of the reduced diameter end portion 33 of the guide i3; is, such that when the guide member 13 is tov be assem-.

bled with the post i l, the lower end portion 38 of the guide may be passed through the slot 3| to such an extent that the upper end of the guide l3 and, its post extension 21. may be moved laterally under the ear into alignment with its slot 26. The guide l3 may. then be raised to. cause its post portion 2'? to enter said slot in which position the upper end of the post is anchored as already explained.

The sleeve to which is welded to the end meme ber 9 of the side guard is preferably of a main diameter which is considerably larger than the guide tube. 3. The end portions H and [2 of the sleeve are, however, of reduced diameter to fit slidably on the guide tube 13. An end plate 35 may under lie the lower ends of the end member 9 of the side guard and the sleeve it, said plate 35 being secured by a screw or otherwise, as shown, to the lower end of member 9 and if de-. sired to the lower end of the sleeve ill. The end plate 3-5 serves to finish oiT the lower end of the vertically moveable structure and it provides a fiat bottom surface for engagement with a bumper cushion 36 of rubber or other material disposed around the lower end portion 3!! of the guide tube and on the bracket plate 32. The provision of the bottom plate serves to facili tate initial positioning of the sleeve id relative. to the end member 3 so that when the sleeve is welded in place on the end member 9 the proper relationship will exist between these parts. For locking he s e ua d n it el ated sos ticn the gu m l bc 3 as sho n n s. 2. and i, he ui tu is p o de w t a transve ely x end g. oc et 31 hav ng a rub er or other i cushion material block 38 in its bottom. The socket 31 is adapted to receive a plunger pin 39 which is normally urged by a spring 41! to project from the end member 9 into said socket 31. The locking plunger 39 consists of an elongated rod element surrounded by the spring 40 under compression between one or more suitable stops such as ears M punched out of the rod and a face plate through which the plunger is longitudinally moveable. The face plate 42 may be attached to the end member 9 of the side guard by screws such as indicated at 43. When the side guard is to be lowered, the plunger 40 is pulled inwardly of the end member 9 of the side guard to withdraw the outer end of the plunger from the socket 31 whereupon the side guard may be moved downwardly along the guide tube I3.

It will be seen that the entire vertically slidable side guard structure including the guide tube l3 and the supporting post l4 may be readily attached .or detached to. or from'the bed. When the side guard is removed, there remains only the housing 21 above the surface of the bed bottom and the inwardly projecting screw post 23 and nut 24 below the surface of the bed bottom. These remaining elements are of small size and constitute no objectionable structure on the bed when the side guards are removed. Attachment or detachment of the side guard structure may be easily effected and requires no tools nor particular skill. Hence, the structure is well adapted for use in hospitals and other institutions where the services of mechanics are not readily availab e.

The lateral adjustability of the guide rod l3 relative to the end frame by which it is carried, facilitates the mounting of the side guard structure interchangeably on any one of a plurality of beds, which are equipped for receiving such side guards. Variations in the spacing and angu fiiity o the end frames of the bed are auto maticallycompensated for by self-adjustment of the guide rods in their supporting brackets.

The described construction is also advantagenus in that it provides the required vertical u d d en h, dequately supp t n withstanding the relatively short vertical dimension of the end frame corner posts.

Changes in the described structure may be ade Wi ut departin from the p in ip s f e l OI'matiQ l as repre ented in the described structure.

I claim:

1 A vertically movable side guard structure which is readily detachably mountable on a hospital or other bed, comprising an elongated guide rod, a side guard having anend portion slidably moun ed n a id rod, an lon ated suppor for said guide rod and to which said guide rod is secured adjacent the ends of the guide rod with e n ng por o oi the uide od. spaced from said support, said support having means located intermediate said ends of the guide rod for detachably securing said support to a bed as resai 2 A bed comprising a bed bottom, end frames supporting said bed bottom, and a side guard structure which is readily detachably mountable on said bed, said side guard structure. comprising an elongated guide rod, a side guard having an end portion slidably mounted on said guide rod, an elongated support for said guide rod, and to Which said guide rod is secured adjacent the ends of: the u de. rod. with the intervening portion of the guide r d spaced from said support, and a pair of vertically spaced ears projecting from said support at points intermediate said end of the guide rod, said end frames being provided with means adapted to cooperate with said ears for detachably securing said support to the bed as aforesaid.

3. A bed comprising a bed bottom, end frames supporting said bed bottom, and a side guard structure which is readily detachably mountable on said bed, said side guard structure comprising an elongated guide rod, a side guard having an end portion slidably mounted on said guide rod, an elongated support for said guide rod and to which said guide rod is secured adjacent the ends of the guide rod with the intervening portion of the guide rod spaced from said support, and a pair of vertically spaced ears projecting from said support at points intermediate said end of the guide rod, said end frames being provided with means adapted to cooperate with said ears for detachably securing said support to the bed as aforesaid, one of said ears and the means engaged thereby being so formed as to require movement of one thereof in predetermined direction relative to the other for effecting engagement and disengagement thereof, and the other ear and the means engaged thereby being so formed as to require, for effecting engagement and disengagement thereof, movement of one thereof relative to the other in a direction extending transversely of said predetermined direction.

4. A bed and side guard structure according to claim 2 which is also provided with clamping means for releasably locking the side guard structure in place on the bed.

5. A bed and side guard structure according to claim 3 which is also provided with clamping means for releasably locking the side guard structure in place on the bed.

6. A side guard structure according to claim 1 in which the guide rod is laterally adjustably secured at its upper end to the support so as to permit movement of the upper end portion of the rod in the direction of the plane of the side guard.

7. A bed comprising a bed bottom, end frames supporting said bed bottom, a side guard adjacent one side of said bed bottom and extending substantially from one of said end frames to the 6 other, and means for vertically slidably supporting and detachably mounting said side guard on said end frames, said supporting and mounting means comprising, at each end of the bed, an elongated guide rod on which the adjacent end portion of said side guard is slidably mounted, an elongated support for said guide rod and to which said guide rod is secured adjacent the ends of the guide rod with the intervening portion of the guide rod spaced from said support to permit sliding of said side guard on said guide rod, and a pair of vertically spaced ears projecting from said support at points intermediate said ends of the guide rod, said ears being located one above and r the other below the plane of said bed bottom and extending into overlapping relationship to adjacent portions of the adjacent end frame, said end frame portions being provided with pins projecting therefrom and said ears having open ended notches for receiving said pins, the notch in the upper ear facing downwardly so as to require vertical movement of said side guard relative to the upper pin to seat said upper pin in the bottom of said notch, and the lower ear being provided with a notch facing inwardly of the bed so as to require horizontal movement of the lower portion of the side guard relative to the lower pin to seat the latter in the bottom of the notch in said lower ear, a clamping nut on said lower pin for clamping said lower portion of the side guard against displacement from said lower pin, and a sheathe carried by the bed end frame for enclosing the upper ear and pin.

DON CARLOS TRAVIS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,276,947 Nicolle Aug. 27, 1918 1,278,903 Frank Sept. 17, 1918 1,306,614 Novick June 10, 1919 1,475,537 Bradley Nov. 27, 1923 1,550,465 Swanson Aug. 18, 1925 

